Wood shavings, sawdust, hulls, straw and a combination of these materials are widely used as poultry bedding. When used as bedding for poultry, these materials must serve two needs: absorbing moisture from the poultry droppings, and minimizing the release of gaseous ammonia.
Also blisters on the breasts of poultry may appear as poultry rub their breasts on the bedding as they stand from lying down positions. The wet bedding then promotes infection, thus down grading poultry final products. Existing bedding may also cause respiratory problems in poultry, which also down grade the quality of poultry final products.
Further, levels of ammonia in the barn increase as the grow progresses, to the point of burning eyes and throat of anyone entering barn. Such high levels of ammonia cause blindness in poultry, which limits mobility to feeders and inhibits growth. Also, these high levels of ammonia affect the overall health of poultry and promotes lung disease. Such an environment with high humidity and high ammonia levels affects overall health of poultry and increases the mortality rates in poultry.
Some additives have been proposed to attempt to deal with some of these problems. Those additives include clay additives to control ammonia. However, they are additives to existing bedding. The other disadvantages of existing bedding still remain. Accordingly, a different material is needed to make bedding. In particular, the additives deal only with ammonia and do not provide a remedy for the moisture related problems. Also, those additives usually last only for a few weeks.
It is known to use various sizes of whole wood pellets or crumbled wood pellets as kitty litter or other household pet bedding. Also, it is known to use wood pellets as bedding for horses. Wood pellets are capable of controlling odours. However, they are not suitable for use as bedding for poultry. Expelling ammonia and associated nitrates to the atmosphere is an environmental concern. Also, ammonia levels are a major concern relating to worker health.
Therefore, there is a need to provide bedding material which is suitable for use as bedding for poultry and which is capable of absorbing ammonia and odours for a period long enough to be used in a full production cycle in commercial poultry operations.
The above-mentioned commonly employed litter materials are effective to a degree. However, they have a tendency to compact, reducing their capacity to release moisture and increasing the formation and release of ammonia gas. To counter these problems, the litter can be regularly stirred, for example weekly. However, the stirring itself releases substantial amounts of ammonia, requiring increased air circulation through the poultry enclosure. In cold weather, the air must be heated, further increasing the production cost. Of course, the stirring operation itself is an added cost of labor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a poultry bedding with improved aeration for a more stable, safer release of moisture and ammonia gases.
Another object is to provide a poultry litter which requires little or no periodic stirring to effect satisfactory moisture and ammonia release.